About me and this site

Hi there,

I'm Dev, and I started ShelfHelp to guide others (and myself) in the life-long journey of reaching our true potential and living a meaningful life.

The stuff you're not taught in school—or how to live your life?
I've spend years immersed in the world of academia, studying both at Oxford and Harvard. As time went by, one thing became strikingly clear to me: the lessons that truly matter in life—how to grow as a person, build meaningful relationships, thrive professionally, and find fulfilment in life — aren’t taught in schools or universities.

With that realisation, I set out to find the best books that would teach me how to live a good life. And after a decade of reading through a lot of books (some of them wonderful, some not so good), I'm beginning to get a rough idea of what sort of skills and knowledge that are helpful in life.

ShelfHelp is here to help you on your own journey of self-growth
This site is my attempt at sharing what I've found (and keep finding) about growing as a person and living a good life. I do this in the following way:

Sharing books worth reading. There are a lot of books out there on the topic of self-growth and self-help. Some are good, a few are excellent, and the majority of them are not worth your time, in my opinion. I only share the books that are truly good.
Helping you get the most out of books through summaries and study questions. Sometimes it can be difficult to get through a book and really soak up all its wisdom. That's why I provide supplementary material (like summaries and study questions) to the books I recommend. By reading a summary along the actual book you increase your chances of understanding the book, and that makes you more likely to actually finish the book. Study questions help you reflect on the content of the books and apply them to your own life. So that you can go from theory to practice.
Giving you my insights and analyses of books. For whatever it's worth, I share my own experiences and thoughts on the books I recommend. Sometimes I compare several books on the same or a similar topic, highlighting their relative strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes I share meta-analyses on a topic of interest while pointing to books that go deeper on a particular question.

What is the selection of books?
The books that I recommend are primarily non-fiction books, although some fiction books might make it too. Furthermore, given my academic background, I tend to oscillate towards non-fiction books that are grounded in research. I also avoid books with a religious theme or subtext in order to be as inclusive as possible.

As to the topics I focus on, the books I chose have to help us grow as humans. This is sometimes a blurry line—there are many books that deepen our knowledge on a certain topic (let's say history) and thereby potentially contribute to our self-growth. However, I strive to pick books that help us in a more direct way.

And I have found the following themes of particular value, roughly to be consumed in the following order:

Health. We have to eat healthy food, exercise regularly and get good sleep in order to have the strength and capacity to take on other challenges. Following the recommendations in the books on this topic will not only ward off stress, anxiety and depression—it'll give us a the energy and motivation to pursue the other themes that'll lead to self-growth.
Introspection. Many of us have been taught to suppress our feelings and our inner wants. We go through life without really knowing who we are and where we're heading. And this most often results in bitterness and depression. The books in this theme will help us getting to know ourselves and start taking steps towards living in accordance with our true selves.
Relationships. We are social animals, and we thrive when our relationships with other people are good. The books on this topic help us develop our social, communication and leadership skills. They also guide us towards becoming decent human beings 😄
Meaning. At some point in life most of us ask ourselves the question, "what is the meaning of all this?" My experience is that our life becomes more meaningful as we work through the above topics. But there are several good reads on this philosophic topic as well.

Like what you're reading and want to support the effort?
I believe that everyone deserves having a good life. And in order to achieve a good life you need to have knowledge. That's why I strongly believe that knowledge should be free and why I regularly post summaries and articles for you to read for free.

If you would like to support this effort, you're more than welcome to subscribe to this site. This would make it possible for me to devote more time putting out new material. In exchange you get regular emails from me, pre-publication access to new material and downloadable resources to help you on your journey of self-growth.

Good luck with your journey of self-discovery,

Dev 😄